Der Alte Rentner
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Everything posted by Der Alte Rentner
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7 down, 1 zone to go. I am sooooo ready for this to be done. Barring the unforeseeable, one more week should do it. (P.S. to Rita and Clement. Touch base if you're following along, thanks)
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I actually have my own shop in a light industrial mall that is my home away from home. This is the work area in the back where I've been doing my woodworking projects these last 14 years. Before I had the shop, my gear was in the basement of our home. When we moved, and I saw the dust everywhere in the house, I decided to move the shop to another building. While I have no views, I can open the man door in the front and the garage door in the back and enjoy the weather inside when it's pleasant. Not visible in these views are bulk of my power tools. Table saw, band saw, sliding miter saw, router table, spindle drum sander, belt drum sander, drill press and two dust collectors - one on each side of the shop. I will be getting rid of most of that stuff as I transform the shop into a garage-o-minium in the next couple of years.
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It's hard to put into words, but those gaps are hard to get planks to lay right. Material hardly matters. Use balsa or basswood - something easy to shape. You only need enough to span the space between the bulkheads where ever the planks would lay. Funny, I could not find this build at Model Ship World, neither did a search of Niagara or filler blocks. The idea is simply to have something to hold the shape of the planks at the bow and stern. Extra surface area is a plus for gluing too! It doesn't need to be pretty, just to be flush at the bulkheads. If you use really soft wood, balsa e.g. shaping with hand tools and coarse sandpaper should not be much of a chore. Because balsa is even softer than the basswood that came with the kit, this should be easier to do than the filler blocks you already installed at the bow.
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USS Constitution by mtbediz - 1:76
Der Alte Rentner replied to mtbediz's topic in - Build logs for subjects built 1751 - 1800
Everything looks great! You're setting an incredibly high standard for those of us following along behind you. Keep up the fabulous work. -
Six down, three zones (or 10 strakes) to go. Man-oh-man, am I ever ready for this stage of the build to be over! I found some clamps at Amazon that, with a small modification (grinding flat the curved portion that is not visible in the photograph below), works well in the tight spaces I have left. (See last photo in today's batch) 1. That clamp in action: On to the build. First, work-side up: Then for a change of pace, right side up. The clamp ad at Amazon: Note, I tried gluing a wooden shim on the inside face at the bottom of the clamp as pictured below, but it didn't stick very well. In the end I simply ground off that lip using my belt sander, which made short work of it.
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whatever floats your boat.. Great fit! by the way, I noticed you only have the one pair of filler blocks at the bow. You may want to consider add at least one more pair between bulkhead A and B. As I wrap up my hull planking, I really wish I'd done this - as well as putting blocks between B and C, and R and Q. In perfect 20/20 hindsight, I believe doing so would have greatly simplified hull fairing and planking.
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Egad! As I struggle to finish the last 11 strakes of hull planking and wishing it were OVER, I am glad I opted out of the gundeck kit bash. Love your attention to detail and the math. Keep up the great work!
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Your photos (and Jon's) prompted my own stroll down memory lane. One of my celestial navigation practicums took me from Nassau to Mystic aboard the Regina Chatarina in October of '98. Sadly, I only had a small handful of photographs and they were printed on matte paper, so digitization didn't net the best result. I really miss blue water voyaging.
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Yes, I did cut it in the bowsprit. I don't recall this being a problem at all. Checking my notes, I saw early on that bulkhead B needed the slot for this tenon, so I cut the mortise before installing the bulkhead. I found the correct angle and fabricated a test piece to verify that then and there. Later when I whittled the tenon, I had that angle handy as a reference. I went back to those two portions of my build log but sadly neglected to note details of the 'whittling' process. My guess is I did exactly that. Thinking about your idea, I don't see the advantage to doing the plug thing. I've thought about this from time to time since them, and I'm not entirely sure the tenon is even a necessity. Seems to me, if you're careful about things, you can simply glue the end of the bowsprit to the bulkhead - when it gets to that point.
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aha! those are indeed they. and great minds think alike. I had the same thought about the weight about a nano second after I hit "Submit Reply". I took a closer look at the clamps in the catalog and decided they are still too bulky (and perhaps heavy) for the intended use in the next two zones of planking. I may yet fabricate something small out of wood and screws. If that works, I'll post on my build log. All the best..
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Another week, another zone. 5 down, three to go. As I was struggling with the plank work at the bow today, I really wish I'd taken the time - up front, to add some filler blocks between bulkhead A and B. Likewise between bulkhead Q and R. Getting the planks to curve properly in those areas now is problematic. Not noticeable at a distance, or right side up, but up close, where I've been spending all my time of late? Sigh.. This is not the ideal hobby for a perfectionist. April 16 Post Script - (after having read part 1 of the piece on building the Brig Niagara in the Spring 2024 Issue of the Nautical Research Journal (Vol 69, NO. 1)) : Evidently there's a forum somewhere here at Model Ship World with a tip to add additional filler blocks. The photo in the Niagara build article shows no less than three filler blocks at the bow. I amend my previous wish to include at least two additional filler blocks. Resumption of April 11 post: The good news is that the extra time getting the tick marks on the bulkheads right is paying dividends now.
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Where did you get that bar clamp? I had a use for something like that very recently in the planking process and actually thought of constructing my own version of exactly that. Cool!
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Peter - No tenon yet! I’m just getting to that section in 2.5.1 (after bulwarks planking). I’m sure the tenon will be a better/stronger solution than a separate block which I’ve considered. I must be losing what little is left of my mind. I can't for the life of me remember why I mentioned the tenon. On the subject of the large scale version of the Constitution you posted photos of, do you know the scale?
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USS Constitution by mtbediz - 1:76
Der Alte Rentner replied to mtbediz's topic in - Build logs for subjects built 1751 - 1800
Right you are Mustafa. -
USS Constitution by mtbediz - 1:76
Der Alte Rentner replied to mtbediz's topic in - Build logs for subjects built 1751 - 1800
According to the OxfordReference.com:
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I too followed the Hunt recipe. I looked at my own build log to refresh my memory. This is all I have on the subject of foremast reinforcement tab.
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I know the feeling. My shipyard seriously needs some renovation, my motorcycle needs an oil change, my wife's honey-do list is growing (and is encroaching on shipyard space as well as my time there), and a new keyboard will be arriving this morning, which will require assembly and at least a few days of dedicated time to pour over owner manual and get used to. (Can't wait!) The next zone of planking on my build may be delayed.. For someone who doesn't like rigging, you sure do it well. 😉 I'm watching your progress carefully now, but will really zoom in to the details when I finally get to that stage of my build.
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Geoff, You've been quite for some time. Too busy rigging to post?
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Zone 4 complete. 4 to go. Pictures follow. Note: the experiment with the rare earth magnets as clamps was failure. The magnets I got were too small in diameter. I can barely separate them. and when I try to position them between planks they reconnect. Weaker magnets were manageable but didn't have the holding power. I'm getting to the point where I can't use clamps. So, I've got to prep the bulkheads and planks very carefully so that when I glue the planks up, they lay the way they're supposed to. Sorry, no pictures of the experiment. I'm going to try one more time with larger diameter magnets. Stay tuned. Note to SUBaron (Andre): When you shape the stern filler blocks, pay attention to the way you flare the aft end of those. You can't really tell from this photo, but the angle coming to the stern isn't flat enough. The aft end of the planks need to run all the way to the the rabbet. If the filler block is too rounded, the ends won't reach. I just spent an hour with chisel and x-acto knives to modify the shape. I may have a small gap to fill with filler for the absolute aftmost portions of the last strake I just added, but for the next four or five, I should be good.
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USS Constitution by mtbediz - 1:76
Der Alte Rentner replied to mtbediz's topic in - Build logs for subjects built 1751 - 1800
What a fantastic video! Thanks for sharing. -
Good question, one that I've been asking myself from the beginning. The photo below, from HIPEXEC's log here at the site, shows how it could look without copper. (He built the Constructo kit, which was the kit I purchased 10 years ago and abandoned within a couple of days of starting my own build log. I liked the way it looks, but the instructions seemed sketchy to me. e.g. they have you plank before adding the keel, which just seems wrong.) Now the Constructo kit came with material for a second planking - the look of which I really like. I'd have to stain to approximate that, but then I think the copper would get lost. So, maybe not.. I'll have to decide before I add the deck planking, which may only be a month from now. With the exception of one photo someone sent me (Jon?), I haven't found any pictures of Conny au natural. I wonder why no one's doing it that way.
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Now that's the spirit! I'm glad you thought better of restarting. And. In support of your artistic deliberations, I too hope to depart from the mainstream on this build. The more effort I put into planking, the more determined I become to dispense with painting Conny.
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I'd like to know your source for the four-corner brace/brackets as well Jon, I had a thought last night as I was contemplating how I'm going to clamp the remaining strakes in the planking. The spring clamps I've been using are no longer working given the shrinking open space at the bottom of the hull. Flipping through the Micro Mark catalog, I saw a picture of a pile of rare earth magnets. I think these would be perfect to hold a new strake flush with the previous one. They come in varying strengths. I get a small variety to try and post the results to my build log. Lastly, on days when I don't get much done on Conny, I wander through all the Constitution build logs here at the site and marvel that each build is unique.
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I don't see that starting over is necessary. You can glue on some tapered scrap material to clean up the bottoms of those two bulkheads - or do as a number of others have, use wood putty to smooth the transitions. As for the deck side of the bulkhead, some careful work with a file, sandpaper, chisel, shims or combinations thereof should solve any issue with the deck when it gets that far. I went through the same thought process when I started out. Looking at scratch builders logs got me to thinking I could solve the laser cut issues by making my own bulkheads. I'm glad (at this point) that I stayed the course. Just about all missteps can be corrected. Just think of them as minor challenges. As you pointed out in a comment to me at my build log, once the planking and deck are in place, no one will be the wiser - or toss them out of the party! Regarding the earlier dilemma, I agree with Targa, the deck is designed that way. Hang in there!
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I had wondered about the size of this club. Glad to be in such good company..
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